Game Style Art Analysis

The HUD is used in games to constantly display information to the player without them having to stop by going into another menu. It overlaps the screen, while displaying things that may be situational to the game, which can include stats for the player, tracking of progression, the player’s health, the location of the player, what type of weapon the player has, how much ammo the player has left and the location of the objective which the player has to reach.

Most games overlap the HUD on the screen regardless of anything that is happening, while other games attempt to make the HUD realistic by including it into the player’s view (usually from a first person view). In some games, the HUD is included on to parts of the game such as the environment, or on to the person themselves.

Most games have a health bar, which is usually accompanied by another bar which is situational to the game that you are playing. If the game has weapons, there will usually be something to indicate which weapon you currently have equipped, while also having the amount of ammunition that you have left. Some games choose to implement a radar system, which shows the player’s current location, while also showing the current objective for the player. Sometimes, if the game feels that the player needs guiding, the game will have an on-screen arrow, to point the player in the right direction. If a game has as a timed sequence, the time will usually show up on the screen, to let the player know how much time they have left, without wasting the player’s time by pausing. 

A game will often give the player the option to have tutorial tips pop up on the screen, to help the player during the first time that they’re playing it, which will usually be displayed on the screen while a certain situation is happening. Something that is a bit less common in games is having an on-screen menu. Most games allow the player to get to the menu by pressing a certain button/key, but for the games that do have an on-screen menu, the game will usually show an overlay on screen, which will lead you to the options.

Single player games will usually never need any kind of communication feedback, due to the fact that the game is only for one player, yet online games will often have chat boxes and feedback which is displayed on screen. This allows people to easily communicate with eachother without the use of a device, such as a headset. This practice is usually only common on PC, because of the ease of typing with a mouse and keyboard, with messages usually appearing on screen by overlapping the actual gameplay. This allows people to see messages being sent without having to pause the game.